In reply to Coleman Hendricks (msg # 598):

Hmm, Psionics? Harmonics?

"I think it depends on just how paranoid these people were," Jason replies.

"If it's strictly a mechanical hatch that can only be disengaged from the inside, then some sort of brute force is all that will open it. Unless Carter has those psionics she mentioned."

"Can you scan for any kind of electronic signature? There might be a hidden release mechanism. Scan the rock; if you don't find any, then it'll probably be mechanical. If you do get a hit, then we can look for the control."

Kyle got down on his knees and started feeling around...

Feeling around the edge of the rock along the ground, Kyle thinks he might have found something. It's a seam... at least, feels like it. He only detects it because it's too regular... a straight line. It's somewhat clogged with dirt.

He feels it give a little, and realizes that it's a cover that pops open, but it's three-quarters covered in dirt and debris from centuries of weather.

If you clear away some of the dirt, it might open all the way.

After you've done so, and the cover pops open, you can see that there is some sort of lever inside. Pulling the lever outward releases all the internal latches.

The stone can now be pivoted open on its hinge.

As expected, based on the size of the rock, there is metal-lined hole going down with a built-in metal ladder along the front wall.

"Aha, here we are!" said Kyle as everything opened up. He jumped up and peered down the hole curiously, ready to climb down and see what's there.

The opening drops down about 10 feet and then starts to slant toward where the base is. The slanted section still has ladder rungs on it, though.

With the stone hatch open, you can now see that it was anchored to the frame of the tunnel with four large metal latches. Without the release, it would have taken explosives to get it open.

There does not appear to be anything electronic or electrical about the hatch or the levers, but the tunnel is somehow lit. It also looks as if the wall of the tunnel is made of some sort of synthetic material, and built with a rough irregular surface, probably as some sort of baffle.

Kyle started to climb down, curious to see what was down there, and how it was lit.

Coleman starts to order everyone down the hole; "Ok lets...", then he notices Kyle is already on his way down, grins, and finishes his sentence; "lets all follow McGuinness! I'll try to cover any signs of our presence and close the hatch behind us."

Coleman starts taking counter-tracking measures to try to cut down any sign of them having been there. No need to make it easy for anyone else trying to follow them.

In reply to Coleman Hendricks (msg # 606):

Jackie turns the flashlight mounted on her P90 and heads down the stairs.

Having covered their tracks as best he could, Coleman climbs into the hatch and closes it behind him. He climbs down the ladder until he reaches the bottom with everyone else, and looks down the slant; "Well, looks like one way to go. Shall we?"

Then Coleman takes the lead down the slanting hallway. Despite having already, effectively, given thier presence away, Coleman takes it a bit slowly and tries to move quietly.

In reply to Coleman Hendricks (msg # 608):

Jackie walks up next to Coleman remaining alert and focused as per her military training.

Kyle, all eagerness to see what's down there, reluctantly lets the miliary types push past him to take the lead.

You proceed down the circular metal tunnel, though the floor has a span across the width that makes it a flat surface. No doubt the utilities, whatever they might be, are running under the floor.

A tap on the wall indicates that the metal of the wall is pretty thick, and that there is probably concrete or something similar surrounding it. It's even possible that the tunnel was bored through the bedrock.


About every 60 feet, you come to a reinforced airlock. There are manual levers on the external side of the airlock that push large bars into slots in the wall. The idea seems to be that as you fled, you could secure each hatch behind you to prevent pursuit. These hatches are all closed, but none of them are locked, so they are easy to open.

After passing through 10 of these hatches, the tunnel continues but there are two side tunnels that head off at angles to either side. You see yet another hatch down each tunnel. Since none of the tunnels slant up or down, it's a reasonable guess that the facility wasn't stacked but sprawled out.

Heading straight, you go through the next hatch and you are in the main complex.

The tunnel gives way to a regular hallway that runs about 70 feet. It's intersected at the middle be a cross-hallway. Along both sides are glass walls that show offices behind them.

"I suppose there might be some interesting data, or perhaps some sort of computer system we could access, in these offices. But I'm of the mind to continue on and see if we can locate a lab or control room, or the like, where our objective is likely to be."

Coleman pauses a second, then delivers the joke; "Still, knowing stuff about stuff isn't my area of expertise; what do you geeks want to do?" He follows it with a smile and a wink.

Kyle grinned.

"Speaking as your friendly neighbourhood archaeologist, a control room or command centre seems like a good bet to me. Jackie, what do you think? You combine geekdom with military, after all, so a complex like this is probably more your domain than mine."

Jason steps forward at that point and advances to the intersection, looking down the hallways in both directions.

"We are operating on the assumption that this facility was abandoned when the Sha'Kri fled the planet, but we don't actually know that," Jason said to the others. "In any case, we do know that they built things to last, so if this facility had any defensive mechanisms, they could still be functional."

"Sarnak, what did your people use for a power source? Could this place still have a functional one? If it does, we could turn it back on... though that might activate the defenses."
This message was lightly edited by the player at 17:42, Wed 14 Dec 2016.

Coleman indicates the light sources; "The lights are on; doesn't that mean that whatever power source this place runs on is already on and supplying power? As for automated defenses; I would guess those would be more likely the closer we get to sensitive areas. That could be an indicator that we should try to break into the systems here, in the office-worker space, in an attempt to get ahead of those. But, then, we don't know for sure there are any such defenses."

"We used a number of different power sources," Sarnak answered Jason.

"Mostly we used solar farms to generate electricity that we stored in accumulators. We also had cold fusion and atomic batteries. There was even rumors of a forced singularity, but that was still in the developmental stages if it was even true. Had we mastered that, we might have been able to stop the Goa'uld."

"As for the lights, it depends on whether they were on the whole time, or just came on when we entered. An atomic battery would have run out of power a long time ago, as they have a half-life."

"I can't say about the fusion. Not my area of expertise. If it could be operated at low power, then a trickle charge would have kept the lights going."

"My best guess is that the base has one or more accumulators, which were probably fed by distant solar farms through shielded conduits. The solar farms wouldn't be active any more... at least, I don't think they would. But a fully charged accumulator could have generated a trickle charge for a very long time."

"Still, it's more likely that the lights came on when we entered. That should stand for life support, too. The air here does not seem stale."

With Travis and Jason keeping on the two side tunnels, the rest of the party advances down the main hall to the intersection. On the other side of the intersection, the 'office' on the left appears to be the galley/cafeteria, while the 'office' on the right is a conference room.

Looking down the cross hallways, you can see that both of them have another armored airlock about 50 feet down, but both are open. Looking past the one of the left, it appears to lead to what looks like labs. Funny how they all tend to look alike. In this case, the transparent walls were probably a nod to both security and to claustrophobia.

Down on the right, however, it looks like that hall leads to the habitat area, as you can see several doors on both sides of the hall past the airlock.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that lab looking area is our best bet. Let's head that way. Stay alert; if I were setting this place up, this is where the real security would start." Coleman leads the way down towards the "labs", taking his time and keeping his head on a swivel.

"That's a good point, Sir," Jason said. "But it's been centuries since this place was abandoned. I wouldn't be worried about security measures so much as booby-traps. They didn't have any self-destruct options installed. Not sure they even thought along those lines."

"Also, we're talking hi-tech booby-traps most likely. Something that would take out a Goa'uld."

In reply to Jason Bjorn (msg # 619):

Jackie shrugged.
" I am not much on demolitions but that would be my educated guess based on the level of technology they seem to have. "

Coleman stops and turns to reply; "Well, to us they are booby-traps, since we're coming in here like it is an ancient temple; to them they would have been security measures; it is all the same thing, though." Then, with a wink, he focuses his attention back on the path forward and resumes his slow progress.

"Perhaps," Jason concurred. "However, my grams used to say, 'just because it looks like a duck, it quacks like a duck, and it walks like a duck, doesn't mean it is a duck'."

"You'd almost think that an alien structure that was built along familiar lines, built by an alien species that looks mostly human, would have the same 'form follows function' design. But it's their minds that are alien, and that's what makes them think differently."

"I remember watching an old Sixties' movie called 'Up the Down Staircase', and people were shocked when a student did just that. I'm just saying that we can't rely on common sense when dealing with aliens. We could wind up walking up the down staircase without ever realizing it and getting blown up or shocked or whatever because it never occurred to the aliens that anyone would do that."

"Good point," said Kyle.

"The trick is to keep an open mind and not make assumptions as to what anything is or how it's used - just observe and investigate and only then come to any conclusions. So, this way?"

He headed off, cautiously.